The Last Takimura
by Brasta Septim
Summary: Things gets strange when the teenage werewolf aristocrat, Countess April Takimura, meets the teenage and fully human Lord Brian Auryn. Despite their obvious differences, they evolve into close friends... and perhaps, something more?


**The Last Takimura **

**by Brasta Septim and Colleen Winters**

**AN: This story is based loosely off of Black Butler and Spice and Wolf, takng place during the latter part of the Victorian era in the countryside of the English West Midlands. The text of the story was written originally as an rp thread between myself and another author who is not on this site.**

**Chapter I: Two Houses**

_"It's okay April. Calm down." Allan had said to April as she cried. She hugged him, yelling, "She lit the fire! She did it! Don't go to bed, please! She's going to light the fire!" But Allan just kissed her forehead and wiped my eyes, smiling kindly at her like always._

_"April, my dear sister, it was just a dream. Samantha is a kind girl, she isn't mean; she's my fiance. That was just a dream. Now get some sleep. Ceil is right here; he'll wake up if anything happens." He had looked down at a dog on the end of the bed. "Won't you boy? Good doggy." Allan said, petting the half-dead mixed-breed puppy. I had rescued him days before. Allan tucked me in and kissed my forehead, and as he left, he turned back to me._

_"I love you. I always will." He said as he smiled. The last time she would ever see him smile._

_That night, the manor went up in flames. April managed to carry Ceil out of the house since he was still small, and Allan managed to get out… but he was terribly burned while trying to rescue their Father and Mother, who had died before he found them. April brought him to the doctor; but she was never allowed to see him afterwards... he had died the next morning on the doctor's operating table._

* * *

**Lady April Takimura, Countess Warbury**

It was a dark night in the forest of Warbury, a strange night. Beneath the rising moon, two figures ran through the forest, almost seeming unaware of their surroundings.

"Ceil, keep up! Honestly!" April said, laughing. "You're a wolf, Newfoundland, husky, deerhound, human hybrid, and you can't keep up with a fourteen-year-old girl?" I teased, running in front of him. He was a huge dog, about the size of a small bear now. The funny part? He had the same shade of brown for my hair and his soft fur. He felt more like a cat than a dog.

_Fourteen-year-old SHAPESHIFTING WEREWOLF girl! And I'm not part human. _Ceil growled. She hugged his fussy head.

"Yes but you heard Uncle Kail, you aren't going to die for years and years longer than any other dog would. At least sixty, he said." She reminded him. Ceil nodded.

_So I'm stuck with you. Great. _He teased. April laughed but stopped as she saw smoke.

"Ceil, do you see that? Someone lit a fire in our woods? Well, should we go-"

_We should not. Especially not with you in such commoner's clothes. You are a nobleman's daughter! You live in a manor- and yet you wear a tunic and pants without shoes or stockings? Plus, you run around with wolf ears and a tail! You'd scare them half to death! _Ceil growled his ears back. I let my tail wag.

"If they don't like my ears and tail I can simply change them back. Besides, the Church already thinks me a devil's child because of my eyes and for talking to you; it doesn't matter to me. Silly pooch, just keep up!" she laughed, running towards the stranger's smoke.

April's eyes aren't your normal two different colors. Her right eye is a stunning blue and my left, which she usually kept under her bangs cut ever so longer to hide it, is an almost crimson color with a golden star outlined in it, a blue heart in the center of the star. Her maid, Suzette, always pointed it out. She acted like a mother to April.

"Who knows, Ceil? Maybe it will be a traveler or something? Someone who doesn't know of the rumors of my family. Maybe someone my age?" She said, slowing to a walk as we neared the source.

_Don't get your hopes up. I dont know about humans exactly, but I dont think many of them make friends in the middle of the woods. _Ceil quietly barked. April smiled.

"There's a first for everything, right?" she asked, peeking around the tree and over the bush she was hiding behind. From where she was, she could see a tent set up in a clearing, with a campfire on the side of it facing her. April looked tried to look into the tent out of curiosity. "It's just a boy." April whispered, her tail twitching. Ceil let out a quiet and low growl.

_Don't you dare. At least wear something to try to hide those ears and tail. I know you like having them... but honestly!_ Ceil said. April quickly covered up the ears and tail with a couple of scarves and sashes she kept on her person for times like these. But then April stepped into the open, letting out an "ouch!" as she stepped on a twig barefoot.

* * *

**Lord Brian Auryn**

Brian lay back in his tent, rather sleepy. It was a good night for being out under the stars, he thought- though his father would have disagreed. "You are an aristocrat, boy! You belong here in the manor, not with the vermin and vagabonds of the forest!" Was a favorite phrase of his father; the renowned Viscount Auryn of Hillford, 3rd Baron Oakwood. Though, he usually had it lucky- his older brother, Tristan, was the one who had the family's reputation in his hands. Besides, he wouldn't trade a night surrounded by crisp forest air for anything.

While he was relaxing in his tent, about to drift off to sleep, he heard a sudden noise from outside; a muffled voice. Brian started, and quickly got out to look around. His oil lantern on a nearby stump was burning low, but he grabbed it anyway. "Hello?" He said. "Anybody there?" He squinted into the dark, walking forward with his lantern casting lurid light on the surrounding trees.

Taking a breath, April stepped forward into the light. "Sorry to frighten you." April said, her voice softened by a light Cumbrian accent.

Brian looked startled for a moment, then quickly regained his composure. "It's perfectly alright, miss." He said, his voice dropping into the cultured Recieved Pronunciation his father would be proud of. "I would ask what you're doing out here in the middle of the night; but then I'd have to answer that question myself." He chuckled.

April smiled, but Ceil barked, standing infront of her. Brian looked down at the dog, looking a bit more than visibly alarmed at his size.

"Ceil! Don't scare the kind sir." She said. She hasn't been using a strong or noticable accent. Ceil growled and barked. April sighed and pouted.

"Sorry about him. This is my dog, Ceil. I know, he looks like a bear, but he doesn't bite." April said, smiling again. Ceil growled and April heard him saying, _I do so and it hurts_, which made April pet him.

"I'm just out for a walk. I don't have anywhere to be...i'm not important or anything really. I try to come out every night." April explained, answering what she was doing in the middle of the woods.

Brian looked down at the dog first. "Nice little doggy." he said a bit nervously. The girl seemed sincere enough. He looked back up at her. "Well, I'm just out here for a bit of fresh air." He said. "What's your name?"

"My name is A-ow!" She started as Ceil bit her hand. She yanked it away and sighed.

"Ceil, I'll feed you when we get home. Im not a chew toy..." April mumbled, knowing Ceil was really saying that she shouldn't tell him.

"I'm fine he just nips me. My name is Aparina." April lied, smiling. The town of Warbury was full of the rumors the Church spread about the Takimura family. Since April Takimura was infamous no one else really named their children "April."

Brian extended a hand. "Pleasure to make your aquaintance, Aparina. My name is Brian Auryn, son of Viscount Charles Auryn." he said with a slightly bitter smile. "I live up at the old mansion on the edge of town, Oakwood Manor."

April stopped. Ceil barred his teeth, his hairs standing up and growling menacingly. April held her hand up to silence him.

"Y...you're Viscount Auryn's son?" She said. April gulped and shook a bit as she shook his hands. "Pleasure to meet you. Sir...so you are aware of the rumors of the Takimura family? The ones who own this forest?" April asked, acting like a traveler with gossip, not a scared girl. Ceil barked but April glared at him. "Ceil! Quiet down or go home." April said. Ceil stopped, looking at her and whimpering, _You know I wouldn't leave you with strangers. Or other aristocrats._

Brian scratched his head. "Just dining-table conversation between Father and the other important people in town; the vicar, the mayor, the magistrate, and a couple of other nobles. The dear old priest had the most to say about it.  
'That family earned their ruination when their manor burned down!' He was always barking about. 'Serves them right for having Devil spawn for a daughter, and not getting rid of her!' Personally, I think that old vicar was doing what clerics do best- whine about stuff they know nothing about, and rant about the stuff they DO know about. Devil spawn? Please!" He laughed. "I think it's a load of rubbish."

April looked down, her ears going back, hidden her head scarf. "She was born by Earl James Takimura and his housemaid Kanade. Kanade was head maid until Lady Takimura died; then her and James were married. All the Takimura family was all killed in a devastating fire four years ago; except two. The fiance of the Earl's son and the daughter of Earl James. The fiance to the son, Lord Allan Takimura, was the one who set the fire and was sentenced to a life in prison; but the Church gave her sanctuary, and she became a nun with them in town." April looked around nervously. "I should be going, I'm past curfew. It was very nice to meet you, Sir. If you ever wish to know more, the Takimura Manor is at the very outskirts of town, where the old one used to be. I hear it's an exact replica even." She was just spewing off words by now. "Ceil is getting mighty hungry; I should get him home. Take care, Sir." April said, getting up and starting off.

Brian ran after her, concerned. "Don't run off! Wait a minute." For a second, he thought he saw something strange on the girl's head, but brushed the thought aside. She stopped and turned, smiling.

"If you would like to meet again, you'll see me around town sometime." April laughed, running off, her head scarf falling. If she went to get it, the chance of him seeing the ears ontop of her head would have tripled. He could have seen them anyway, she thought as she ran off.


End file.
